


fickle fate of an innocent Star tune

by opanimeboy



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Kanata's holiness shows here get sad hyped, M/M, does not read romantic but def can be, eichi isn't there at all but his name drop felt relevant, hbd wataru!!, oddball angst. Comfort debatable, unnerving dream imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 16:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17870852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opanimeboy/pseuds/opanimeboy
Summary: “What an eccentric dream,” say all three Eichis.* * * * *Rei and Wataru dream together. The Eccentric Five are all there, except not really, in some kind of night adventure that's less adventure and more memories and important truths.





	fickle fate of an innocent Star tune

**Author's Note:**

> hbd wataru!! i'd like to apologize bc ur not rly the main player here but i can't exactly send you 18 bouquets of roses bc u won't answer my calls. ily
> 
> sorry to the reader for any inaccuracies! this was written with twitter meta n wiki speculation in 4 hrs n i don't know nearly enough about what happened in The War tee-hee ! ;'3c enjoy!

Wataru walks into the classroom.

That's weird.

He doesn't twirl in, or float through the window. He doesn't even leave a trail of flower petals which he's known to do even on days his hair flows less, his smiles wider than his norm.

Rei is severely unsettled.

Maybe it also has to do with the fact that half of the room is a beach, and there's three of Eichi doing a _fine_ dance routine in the corner adjacent to the door solemn Wataru stands in.

“What an eccentric dream,” say all three Eichis.

Ah. So this is a dream. Rei stretches and jumps, even if he thinks he was sitting cross legged in the ocean before and skipped the action of standing up, and he feels nostalgia because of the familiar, long lost strength he has in this place.

Wataru laughs a normal, pleased laugh that ends when Rei lands on the ground. The scene clicks into something completely different except Wataru, who is the same distance away, but lacking his uniform jacket. He's wearing a short sleeved button up, and Rei knows he himself is, too. He also somehow immediately knows where they are and what is happening. No- he doesn't know -- he remembers.

There's a shadow where Natsume was standing in their Secret Lair so long ago. Fog that's lit up with spots of red, blue, pink, white, and black hides the walls and gives a never-ending effect to the room. Rei's instincts tell him to cough and squint but he does neither, and sleepy logic in the back of his head tells him he shouldn't be able to see as well as he does.

“We'll do everything we must,” says a voice in the area where Shu stood, but nothing stands on the tile.

“Don't ‘worry’ about anything, Nacchan,” says Kanata's voice on top of a desk where he should be sitting.

Suddenly, Natsume trades places with his shadow. He looks heartbroken, scared. The colors in the air around them turn red like aged bricks, or a bruise.

“Please don't leave me behind again.”

Rei gets confused, and he spares a glance at Wataru. He's surprised to see a similar look of confusion on his face, and they catch each other's eyes.

The conversation, well - two different ones of the past that were mashing together with Natsume and the two missing Eccentrics - lowers in volume like they're on TV and someone is using a remote controller to hush it.

Ever the actor, Wataru looks shaken that he wasn't able to play his parts in both situations because of the dreamscape, or so Rei thinks. He understands. He'd have liked the chance to apologize to Natsume for getting him involved once more since he currently would hear nothing about it. Perhaps he's moving on better than his elders.

“That look doesn't suit ya, Wataru,” says Rei. The moment he heard his old speech pattern, he thinks he blushes but he doesn't feel any warmth on his cheeks.

Wataru's eyes widen and he lets out a bark of a laugh. “It appears you've caught me off guard, old friend! If this were the waking world, I think I'd just tell you I _was_ acting. But... I'm tired. Quite ironically, if I might add.”

It's Rei's turn to blink. “I thought this was my dream? Think. I think it's my dream?”

They stare at each other, and then they begin to walk towards one another at the exact same time. When their foot hits the ground, the scene has changed again.

They're besides each other, and they look at each other before bumping shoulders. It feels just as real as any other time, but that's the only sane thing in the scene before them.

It's like the world is sewed together which is very fitting for the main star of the show if the way Shu has a literal spotlight on him in his club room is any indicator. Besides him and the two observers, everything from the colored pencils to the normally porcelain dolls are Frankenstein images with how they're made of clashing material sewn crudely together. He's having a heated conversation with someone. The person is obscured in that Rei can't register anything besides the fact that it is a person, no who or defining features. Then, the figure leaves and Shu looks at them.

“You two are such stubborn asses. Let me help, at least,” Shu pouts.

Rei is the one to laugh here, but he can imagine Wataru's smile, the patient, affectionate, goading ones reserved for Shu. He is painfully endeared.

A record scratches loud in Rei's ear. All three of them tense up but Shu's expression lights up, something manic. Shu is suddenly in his Valkyrie uniform from that nightmare of a night.

Everything in the room goes black besides the circle of light coming from somewhere unspottable. Wataru's shoulder still presses into Rei's and is the only thing preventing him from bolting towards their friend.

The spotlight on Shu dims rapidly. He yells - because he's as far as he was when he was on his ruined stage now, as far away from Rei when he watched him crumble from the audience - and does it with all the passion they knew him capable of.

“We did what we could!”

“You did all you could!”

“You did nothing wrong!”

When he says that final word, the audio so much like words resonating on a recording are abruptly cut and only silence is left in the dark.

If only his old age would take away these memories. Maybe that's childish of him to wish.

Rei feels like crying. He wants to wake up.

Before he can do either of those things, he feels a few, small wet drops on his face. There's still no temperature, but he knows they're water because he blinks, and Wataru and him are standing on an ocean. Or an endless floor of a shallow but stretched puddle. It looks like a mirror. There's not many stars in the cloudless navy sky, yet it's sprinkling.

He glances at the man next to him and feels his eyes tear up at the emotions on his face. Before he knows it, he reaches for Wataru's hand. He doesn't continue looking, but Wataru squeezes back.

They don't wait around for anything this round. Again, they walk forward in time with one another until they hear crying, unfiltered sorrow. Rei's cheek gets wetter by his own work. Their reflection that was distorted with each step, every ripple changes and they stop to look at the upside down world below them.

The source of the noise is a second away from them, and Rei finally recognizes it to be Kanata. Where it comes from is a blurry dark shape that continuous ripples come from with each sob.

Wataru startles Rei when he bends down to touch the see through surface, not letting go of their hands.

Kanata jerks and gets up from what must have been a crouch. The sprinkling stops. They can see his bare feet and anklets made of seashells, but the rest of him is muddy.

“Is...someone 'there?’”

Rei leans down and copies Wataru. He's not too surprised to learn that their shared floor doesn't feel like anything despite how solid it is under where they stand.

“Rei? Wataru?”

They push into the ground and hands grab theirs when they break through, like popping a bubble.

Blinking, he tries to grasp his new surroundings when he's this disoriented - sat upright and no longer in contact with Wataru. Then, there are cold hands holding his face, wiping his tears.

“Even if this is a 'bad’ dream, I am happy to see you both.”

Rei gives up and closes his eyes, but he smiles. The hands on him are removed but he knows Kanata saw.

“Bad dream, Kanata?” asks Wataru from his left.

“Yes. I've always been ‘alone,’ so it's nice to have company. You could do no wrong here.”

“That's nice to hear. We do enough of that elsewhere,” says Rei.

No one speaks for a moment after that, and Rei tries not to manifest everything he'd just relived again.

A cold hand finds his and is led to a warm one. All three of them stay still after that, sitting together.

“I don't think you do ‘wrong’ anywhere, Rei.”

He wants to ponder that. He wants to dissect that statement and refute it and most of all, something like mean spirited hope deep inside him wants to make it true.

“What about me, Kanata?” asks Wataru with no flair. He asks like he's nervous.

“You too,” responds Kanata with a breathy laugh.

Wataru's fist clenches underneath Rei and Kanata's hands, but he doesn't move it.

“I find that a bit hard to agree with, but thank you, my friend!”

Kanata hums a single, long tone and then a song that's terribly familiar but Rei can't identify.

“You're really ‘human,’ Wataru. You and Rei -- you are so, so human.

“You're made to make mistakes and make ‘choices.' You're not the rocks being shaped by the waves. You're ‘colorful sea life’ that need to eat and be stimulated.

Failure and pain are natural. So is getting up and trying again - ‘surviving.’”

He laughs, and it sounds watery. It's sprinkling again.

“I doubt either of you will get that. Sorry. Anyways... you'll both be alright. None of us are broken yet.”

Rei's steady stream of tears stop, but he feels more sprinkles on his face. Kanata moves his hand and Wataru's warmth is all that is left.

“Kanata?” Wataru breaks any wishful thinking that Rei can find a moment's rest in this dream, the distress in his voice making his heart hurt more.

“Yes?”

“Are you a rock or a fish?” Ever the indulger, Wataru pleads.

“... it's time for me to wake up. You two have some time left. I'll bring something yummy for us and Shu and Natsume today, okay?”

Rei hears the rustle of him rising, and he knows he needs to open his eyes then or there's no point in anything.

“-sea! You're the--”

He doesn't know if he or Wataru said that, but he's struck dumb when he gazes at Kanata who is decidedly much more than Kanata. Robes and jewelry and tattoos and _him_ glitter in the sunlight that comes off the huge sun, rising on a new horizon. And then, he's gone and so is the rain and stars. There's still nothing besides water and the sliver of sun, but Rei hears birds far away.

Wataru crawls and sits in front of him. Rei gets closer until they're knee to knee, and he hugs him. He's hugged back.

“Did you see?”

“Yeah.”

“... I'm sorry.”

“For what, Wataru?”

“Not choosing you all.”

“It's okay.”

“It's not.”

“It really is. We're happy that you've found a place for yourself.”

“You are also one of my homes.”

“I know.”

“I wish it didn't go the way it did.”

“I know. Me too.”

“We need to make sure they know how human they are too.”

“Yeah.”

“He was right. You can't do any wrong, Rei. You work so hard for others. You're hurt when others hurt. It would be so nice to be like you!”

“That's not necessary. You are a star that gives just the right amount of warmth that you're supposed to and we wouldn't have it any other way. Except maybe don't mention him in front of Shu as much as you do. Please.”

Wataru chuckles weakly. “Your wish is my command, Master. Will I be seeing you? I fear my time is coming to a close!”

“Mhm. I'll meet you at your train stop. But...you might want to call me in case I forget this dream.”

Wataru moves his head from where it was in the crook of Rei's neck and puts his forehead against his.

“You won't! You're too good for that.”

“If I can't do any wrong, I don't suppose that means I can't do or be any good?”

“Stop playing mind games and sleep a bit longer. Good night, Rei.”

“Good morning, Wataru.”

Rei is alone. He doesn't feel lonely or much of the earlier sadness.

For as long as he can, he basks in the sunlight that doesn't hurt him.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write sweet WataRei for mr. six fingers bday and now we're here ig. thanks for reading! I hope you were able to understand any of it cuz I sure didnt!
> 
> my Kanata bias strikes again. this was a lot more tender than expected but i just want them to hold hands don't @ me
> 
> please leave a kudos and/or comment if you're up to it! <3
> 
> twitter: opanimeboyy


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